The Water Cooler: shameless politicians edition

The Florida District Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court judge’s ruling that Jim Norman is a lying, cheating bum and should be thrown off the ballot. In a strict interpretation of the law and a complete disregard for right and wrong, the court said they didn’t want to “disenfranchise voters” unless the law clearly states doing so is warranted.

The Water Cooler is a snapshot of some of the things people are talking about in politics

The Florida District Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court judge’s ruling that Jim Norman is a lying, cheating bum and should be thrown off the ballot. In a strict interpretation of the law and a complete disregard for right and wrong, the court said they didn’t want to “disenfranchise voters” unless the law clearly states doing so is warranted. This is what is otherwise known as a technicality. Here’s hoping Kevin Ambler appeals the suit to the State Supreme Court. Ambler deserves kudos for pressing the issue this far and for taking on a tremendous financial obligation in the form of legal fees to advance his case.

But Norman isn’t free and clear just yet. The FBI and a grand jury are looking into his financial shenanigans, and he may have to file new and accurate financial disclosure forms which he may prefer not to do since doing so could cause him to perjure himself.

Either way, the guy is an eyesore on Tampa, the state legislature, our elections process and the Republican Party of Florida. Hillsborough County Republican Party Chairwoman and 1st Vice-Chair of the state GOP Deborah Cox-Roush told the St. Pete Times, “He’s back on the ballot and we’re going to support him.”

When party leaders like Cox-Roush are willingly to embrace and support such a pathetic example of a public servant, is it any wonder why our country is circling the drain? These same clowns were calling for the head of Bill Clinton for fooling around with an intern – a far less egregious violation of the public trust. To people like Cox-Roush, winning is everything and morals and ethics don’t matter – unless they’re charges against a Democrat.

The GOP’s Richie Rich

Don’t expect Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature to do anything about correcting the state’s election qualification laws that will allow disgraced candidate Jim Norman to skate into the legislature. The legislative body is/has been dominated by crooked politicians who have a disregard for the truth.

Incoming state Senate President Mike “Richie Rich” Haridopolos is being investigated by the state Ethics Commission for, you guessed it, violations related to his failure to disclose his financial interests for the years 2004-2008. Haridopolos claims they were “unintentional” mistakes and says he has corrected his forms.

Photo: HaridopolosHaridopolos' hero and hair model

Thanks Mike, we feel so much better now that you’ve given your word.

Democrat Linda Saul-“Shama” proves she’s short on substance

Proving she has absolutely no idea why she is running for the Hillsborough County Commission other than to advance a liberal, tree-hugging agenda which she knows voters don’t want to hear about, Linda Saul-Sena is using the race card to scare black voters into supporting her.

The acerbic Saul-Sena has posted yard signs around Tampa Bay with the words “Ken Hagan Honors Confederate Memorial Day.” She bases the racial charge on the fact that years ago Hagan supported an annual proclamation recognizing Confederate Memorial Day. Hagan, who may be a lot of things, is not a racist and Saul-Sena knows it. But desperate candidates do desperate things. She also claims Hagan tore down one her signs and that she intends to file a complaint with the state Ethics Commission. She should consider herself lucky. Most people if unfairly called a racist would have taken that sign and shoved it up her, well, let’s just say where the sun don’t shine.

Hagan it should be noted has been endorsed by Florida Sentinel Bulletin newspaper whose audience is largely the county’s black community. The paper’s editorial board is black, and the paper doesn’t typically endorse Republicans, though it did Hagan — who is a good man.

Incidentally Saul-Sena told the Times that “…Ken Hagan never has paid attention to this community,” referring to the county’s black community. The Times noted there was an attempt to rename the library at which Hagan tore down the sign after the late publisher of the Sentinel Bulletin. Ken Hagan led the effort.

Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of Irreverent View. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, and National Review online. He is the Republican political analyst for Bay News 9, the only 24 hour all news channel in Florida’s largest media market. The opinions expressed here are those of author and do not represent the views of Bay News 9. E-mail him at:Chris@IrreverentView.com.

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“Don’t expect Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature to do anything about correcting the state’s election qualification laws that will allow disgraced candidate Jim Norman to skate into the legislature.”

ROFLMAO Are you serious Chris? What elected legislative group, regardless of party, is going to create a law that doesn’t benefit them?

All of this is a crying shame. We republicans should be better people as we carry a higher standard of expectation. We expect our childrens to goe to college. We expects our heirs to carry on our name and best of all we expect our contributions to be safe guarded by the party. Charlie Christ from St Pete got off with my contributions and won’t give them back. I was outraged at the site of the flags in Tampa flying the flag that oppressed us all so long. It is downrite rude to use hatred in a time as of today. I expect our president does not know about this. We republicans should just all get along.